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Try The Easy Way To Customize Mac Folders

Monday, January 4, 2016

Apple isn’t much for letting Mac users customize or personalize their Macs. That’s by design; probably due to Apple’s penchant for controlling the entire OS X environment, and so Mac users don’t muck up what already works well. We can customize the Desktop wallpaper, move the Dock and Dock apps around, and change the screen saver, but not much beyond those few modest options.

Now, let’s talk about folders. OS X’s folders are muted, pastel, and mostly boring, only being differentiated by a few which have an embossed icon within the folder icon. Those include Applications, Utilities, the Desktop, Downloads, Library, User and not much else. So, what can you do to customize the folders on a Mac.

This modestly priced Mac utility does one thing. It customizes the Mac’s folder icons. Folder Color comes with simple tools which let you create a custom folder icon to match the embossed icons in OS X or go crazy with an embedded photo in the icon, or simply lets you place custom icons and custom colors into any user folder.

Here’s how it works.

Folder Color comes with a few graphic design and layout tools which make the process of creating customized folders rather simple. Use the app to change the folder icon color to whatever you want, including the addition of a unique folder icon. It takes transparent PNG files, text, and there’s even built-in editing.

The app comes with dozens of ready-to-use folder icons in the Resource Library but others can be imported from graphic design apps.

Folder Color supports icons which display in higher resolution on Macs with Retina displays, and much of the process of creating a custom folder icon is point and click, and drag and drop. You maintain control over folder color, image or icon size and positioning, plus shadow and transparency, all from the tool center.

What you get is what OS X does not have; variety in folders. Change the color, change the icon, change or add text, even drop in a high resolution photo. That means your Mac’s folder icons go from boring to colorful (or, if you have good taste, complimentary, or if not, gaudy– but they’re yours).

I don’t know of an easier Mac app to modify or customer OS X’s folders than Color Folder. The only nit I have is that the app is available on the Mac App Store and when it’s not on sale the price tag goes higher than my throw-away-money threshold. There’s no try-before-you-buy option, not trial version. However, the Folder Color goes on sale it’s a steal.

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